Fatal Accidents Have Tripled in Last Ten Years

8/8/2019 Fatal Accidents Have Tripled in Last Ten Years

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/fatal-accidents-have-tripled-in-last-ten-years 1/5

Fatal accidents have tripled in last ten years

AjaiSreevatsanCHENNAI, January 9, 2011

Need to enlighten drivers on vital f eaturesAnalysis of road saf ety drives needed

With yet another R oad Saf etyWeek coming to a close, it is time to take stock of the number of accident-related f atalities that occur on city's roads.

On the f ace of it, Chennai's accident graph seems to be stabilising over the last three years. The number of deaths due to road accidents has been around 600 between 2008 and 2010. However, what the numbers do not reveal is the f act that Chennai's traff ic jurisdiction was reorganised in

2008 and a suburban traff ic Commissionerate established. If suburban f igures are included, then f atalities in the city in 2010 increase to 1,415, the highest in the last 10 years. In f act, between

2000 and 2010, the number of f atal accident cases has almost tripled.

Suburban areas are emerging as the hotspots of accidents due to the preponderance of highway traff ic that f eeds the city. G. K arthikeyan, DeputyCommissioner of Police (Traff ic), Suburban,

said that unlike the city, most outlying areas are poorly lit at night.

³Poor illumination on roads such as K undrathur R oad and GNT R oad is a major cause of accidents. As the city grows, outlying localities are experiencing a mix of urban as well as highway vehicle movement. Prevalence of highway traff ic along pedestrian crossing points is a

major worry,´ he added.

Chennai's f atality rate puts it second on the list of metropolitan cities that experience the most number of road accidents, a comparison of off icial f igures reveals. New Delhi, a much bigger

city, recorded 1,978 traff ic f atalities in 2010.



Fatality rates within the city have dropped largely due to traff ic congestion that has reduced vehicle speeds. The average vehicle journey speed dropped to around 20 kmph on most arterial

roads by 2008, according to the Chennai Traff ic and Transportation Study.

A. Veeraraghavan, Transportation Engineering Prof essor at IIT-Madras, said that any mitigation

measure required proper investigation of each accident, grouping similar incidents, analysing them and implementing eff ective intervention measures. During last year's R oad Saf etyWeek, the government ordered the constitution of an inter-departmental team of off icers comprising the

traff ic police, Transport and Highways Department with instructions that ³the teams shall visit the accident spot on the same day or at the most very next day, make a comprehensive study

f rom diff erent angles and make specif ic recommendation/measures to avert such accidents in f uture´.

The inter-departmental team is still not in place. R ash drivers, who commit f atal accidents and

those booked f or drunk driving, also seem to get away easily. Though Chennai witnessed 604 road accident deaths in 2010, drivers' licence of less than 100 persons were suspended by the

traff ic police. Only two had to f ace cancellation of their licence.

Acknowledging the magnitude of the problem, Transport Commissioner M. R ajaram said the

department would adopt the slogan, µR oad saf ety f orever,' and continue to work on saf ety-related measures throughout this year. ³Outreach campaigns will be organised at the school and college

level all through the year. R oad saf ety will be observed not as a ritual, but as a passion, ́he added.

School children take a risky ride everyday

Madurai, January 8, 2011

The year 2011 has started on an ominous note f or traff ic police in the rural parts of Madurai

district. Almost every third day since January 1, µ108' emergency ambulance has been pressed into service to rescue school children involved in road accidents² the children suff ered injuries

while travelling to school f rom home on the Chekkanoorani-Usilampatti stretch, at Pottulpatti near Usilampatti, and near Sholavandan.

Madurai R ural Police said that, in the f irst incident, even as children were boarding a van, a

speeding private mof ussil bus hit it f rom behind causing injuries to nine children seated inside the van. Af ter treatment f or bruises, the children returned home.

In the second incident at Sholavandan, the van driver was driving in a rash manner and the vehicle turned upside down at a curve. Twelve children studying in a private school got injured.

They were rushed to Government R ajajiHospital in Madurai f or treatment, G. ThanikaivelMurugan, District Manager, µ108' ambulance services, said.



Everyday, children travel f rom home to schools and back in diff erent modes of transport. Other than the van or bus driver, a conductor used to take charge of the children boarding and alighting

f rom the vehicle.

While f ew children are dropped in and picked up f rom the schools in their own cars² mostly in

the city² others get dropped and picked up in two-wheelers, auto-rickshaws and small vans. But a majority of them use buses and vans either operated by the schools themselves or in contracted vehicles. Be it government or private schools, a majority of the institutions has a

strength of 1,000 to 3,000 in the city while it is around 1,200 to 1,800 in the suburbs.

The recent accidents, be it due to bad roads or over-speeding or overload, children suff ered f or no f ault of theirs, parents say and expect the authorities to take stringent action against erring

drivers. It would not only serve as a lesson to others not to violate rules but also send a strong signal that erring drivers would not be spared, they say.

Share auto-rickshaws and private mof ussil buses were the root cause f or most of the road

accidents as they charge down the road in the opposite direction of a school van or bus in a rash manner, van drivers transporting children allege.

With R oad Saf etyWeek coming to an end on Saturday, Transport Department authorities have planned to swing into action.

Analysis of road safety drives needed

CHENNAI, January 4, 2011

It is that time of the year when road saf ety acquires prominence and various government departments go on intensive pamphlet-distribution drives. The 22nd edition of the R oad Saf ety

Week, usually observed in the f irst week of January, kicked off with much f anf are on Sunday. But how eff ective is this annual programme in mitigating accidents and what are the outcomes?

The number of road accident f atalities in the city tripled between 2000 and 2010. Nearly 50 per

cent of the victims are either pedestrians or cyclists.

While the f atal accident rate in the State was rising at about f our per cent a year, nearly R s.4

crore was spent on ³awareness campaigns´ over the last f our years. The money came f rom the R oad Saf ety Fund. All the R egional Transport Off ices (RTOs) in Chennai collectively spent

more than R s.2 lakh on printing pamphlets and organising rallies during last year's R oad Saf ety Week alone.

Though many in government cir cles are serious about the issue of road saf ety, analysis on the

eff ectiveness of awareness drives seems to be lacking. Dinesh Mohan, coordinator of the Transport R esear ch and Injury Prevention Programme at IIT-Delhi, says that Western Europe



and the USA f ollowed a similar strategy until the early 1970s. ³They exhorted people to improve their behaviour, but the f atality graph kept rising.´

Mr.Mohan says that studies show that a simple rule such as the compulsory use of helmets by

two-wheeler riders can reduce deaths by 20 to 30 per cent. He also suggests the use of ref lectors

on bicycles and carts and limiting of vehicle speeds to 50 km/hr on urban arterial roads.

He adds that accidents cannot be brought down without making cities more pedestrian-f riendly.

³A pedestrian hit by a car at 30 km/hr has less than 10 per cent chance of dying, whereas there is an 80 per cent chance of f atality if the vehicle speed is 50 km/hr. In essence, more importance

must be given to science in road saf ety, rather than PR f or road saf ety,´ Mr. Mohan says.

A.Veeraraghavan, Transportation Engineering Prof essor, IIT-Madras, says that since the State

now has a R oad Accident Data Management System (R ADMS), it is easy to f orm a map and identif y where the majority of road accidents are occurring.

This was done in 2009 and 23 killer stretches were identif ied. But nothing much has come out of it, says Mr. Veeraraghavan. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sanjay Arora, who is currently in charge of traff ic, said that the number of f atalities on Chennai's roads in 2010 was

almost the same as in 2009. ³Lack of pedestrian f acilities is a major issue. Apart f rom that, we consider maintaining f atality levels at the same level is a good thing. Every year, f our lakh new

vehicles are added.´

R oadAccidents in Chennai

R ead more: http://www.southdreamz.com/2008/04/road-accidents-in-chennai.html#ixzz1AdsMmQgP

April 2, 2008

All of us have at one time or other bitched about road conditions and accidents in Chennai. The Government statistics too seem to agree with us. Last month there was a question in LokSabha

about road accidents in the country.

In the annexure to the question, the Government gives city wise break up of the number of road accidents in metros. Chennai stands second, with onlyDelhi worse than us.

NUMBER OF CASES OF ROAD ACCIDENTS DURING 2004-2006 INMETRO CITIES:

CITIES 2004 2005 2006

CHENNAI 4873 7875 7359



DELHI 8218 8531 8385

KOLK ATA 2164 2366 2379

MUMBAI 3340 4360 4151

TOTAL 18595 23132 22274

Look caref ully. Of all the cities, Chennai¶s road accidents have increased dramatically f rom 2004

to 2005. Is this due to (ironically) the increased number of road works all over the city? Or due to the expanded Greater Chennai Police limits? Or plain increase in number of bad drivers?

Whatever it is, be caref ul while on the road.

Documents

Fatal Accidents Have Tripled in Last Ten Years